Bears Like Marmalade

I recently ordered the B&B caffeine free advent calendar, and I knew it would be hard to have to wait THREE MONTHS to get into it, so I ordered a 50 gram pouch of this and one of Butter Brew. This one sounded so good but I didn’t notice it had hibiscus. Boy, does it have hibiscus. I could barely choke down the cup. If you enjoy the tart zing of Jolly Ranchers you will probably love this one. I, on the other hand, will be adding sugar. Lots of sugar.

Thanks to amandastory516 for this one. I wouldn’t call the flavor marmalade necessarily, but definitely orange. This is one you need to be careful not to oversteep because it gets bitter. When brewed properly, it’s quite orangey and nice!

I thought I had finished my stash of this off, but I found another unopened 50g bag, so back into the cupboard it goes. I really enjoyed this when I first got it, and I can barely say I like it now.

So, I brought this with me to work this week. My boss is back from vacation, which means that the thermostat has been reset to sub zero temperatures, and I am drinking a lot of tea. Plus this week I’ve got a bit of a cold, so I figured keeping my insides warm with cups of tea is the way to go.
So I brought this, and drank it all down in a couple of days, as it’s very easy to drink.
I cannot say that it tasted like Marmalade to me, it was just a fruit infusion. Not unpleasant, but not the orangy treat I was hoping for.
Oh well, now a Sipdown!

Tasting note 6800!

Probably time for me to start thinking about what tea I want to drink for my 7,000th tasting note, I guess?

Anyway; this one was a hot cup. I definitely think this is better as an iced tea, but it wasn’t bad as a hot beverage either. Very strong orange notes; a little bit like orange juice in that it’s sweet but also had that sourness to it. Lots of “punch”. Accented by notes of hibiscus and sour apple, but neither are the focus in this one nor should they be. If you can accept that it’s a more tart flavour and that you’re not going to get much more nuance than surface level orange/apple I think it’s a perfectly fine blend!

Makes me want orange soda though – not the sugary, sweet stuff but something potent and acidic…

159/365

It was hot yesterday, like 27 degrees or something. Apparently, we’ve skipped spring entirely and gone from threatening snow to full summer pretty much overnight. Very odd, and not a little unexpected! The upside is that it’s definitely time for iced tea and cold brews.

I made this one up when I got home from work last night. I used 2 tsp of leaf, and gave it 4 minutes in 100ml boiling water. I added 2 tsp of fresh squeezed orange juice to a glass of ice, added the tea, and topped it off with sparkling water. It was the most refreshing thing! The flavour was perhaps a little more muddled than I expected – more orange blossom (and more fragrant/floral) than straight orange. There was also a touch of rose, but just in the background. I found this one to have a fair amount of hibi sour tartness, but since it helped to stop things getting too sweet I didn’t actually mind too much.

I enjoyed this one, and I’d buy more once I’ve finished my current sample. It’s rare for me to say that about a floral-ish tea, but combined with the flavour of actual orange (and it is there…) it was actually really pleasant.